the varieties of religious experience audiobook

A key distinction in James's treatment of religion is between that of healthy-minded religion and religion of the sick soul the former is a religion of life's goodness, while the latter cannot overcome the radical sense of evil in the world. Churches, theologies, and institutions are important as vehicles for passing on insights gained by religious experience but, in James's view, they live second-hand off the original experience of the founder. In the Varieties, James explicitly excludes from his study both theology and religious institutions, choosing to limit his study to direct and immediate religious experiences, which he regarded as the more interesting object of study. James had originally planned for the second half of his lectures to be a philosophical assessment of religion but ill health meant that he could only write one lecture on the topic, resulting in a work more descriptive that James had initially anticipated. This was a lecture series instituted by Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford and intended to have a popular and public audience on the subject of natural theology, or scientific approaches to the study of religion. The Varieties was first presented in 1901-2 as a set of twenty Gifford lectures at the University of Edinburgh. As part of this development, the psychology of religion emerged as a new approach to studying religious experience, with the US being the major centre of research in this field. New psychology's novelty was encapsulated by its distinction from philosophy ( philosophy of mind in particular) and theology, and its emphasis on the laboratory-based experimental method. In the 1890s, a 'new psychology' emerged in European and American universities which coincided with the establishment of many new psychology laboratories and the appointment of faculty in psychology. Historical context Psychology of religion There are many overlapping ideas in Varieties and his 1907 book Pragmatism. James later developed his philosophy of pragmatism.

Soon after its publication, Varieties entered the Western canon of psychology and philosophy and has remained in print for over a century. The lectures concerned the psychological study of individual private religious experiences and mysticism, and used a range of examples to identify commonalities in religious experiences across traditions. It comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on natural theology, which were delivered at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland between 19. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature is a book by Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James. Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907)

The varieties of religious experience audiobook